Vauxhall Corsa Electric review

It’s pretty much identical to the regular Corsa in here, which is good or bad news depending on your outlook. This car is a very close cousin to the Peugeot e-208, don’t forget, and that’s a car with an interesting, left-field interior aesthetic. Including some genuinely jaw-dropping holographic dials which aren’t nearly as gimmicky as they sound.

Whether that's a damning indictment of Vauxhall’s lack of bravery or not, we'll leave up to you. But all of that’s been ditched here for a slightly bleak, black cabin with a straighter-laced design. We’d have hoped that Vauxhall could've spiced things up as part of the facelift, but they’ve played it very safe.

What’s changed?

Well, the 10-inch infotainment display is now standard across all trim levels, though we found it to be very laggy on start-up. There’s also a ‘new’ steering wheel, though in reality the airbag has just been redesigned to resemble the Vizor nose, and there’s also now a toggle-style gear selector on the centre console, instead of the old lever. And that’s really about your lot.

There are perks to playing it safe: the climate controls are operated via physical buttons and dials below the touchscreen, rather than through a sub-menu like in the Peugeot. But the ergonomic wins don’t excuse the drab design.

There’s no faulting it all works properly and is laid out sensibly, though. As long as it's sensible you’re after.

Is it roomy?

All of the battery cells are wedged beneath the floor so passenger room is unaffected, but rear legroom is in noticeably short supply, as it is in the ICE variant.

The boot is the same size above the carpet, with quoted luggage capacity 267 litres seats up, rising to 1,081 litres seats down. Quite a tall load lip too, and no frunk or underfloor storage (though you can option a luggage organiser with a false floor to tidy things up) means you’re forced to keep your dirty charging cables back there.

That’s about the same as the e-208, but a good chunk bigger than the Honda e, Fiat 500 and Mini Electric. And it's more than enough for the weekly shop. Unless you're a family of 18, or something.